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By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/27/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: national poetry month, verse novel, guest post, novel-in-verse, Allan Wolf, historical verse novel, A Month in Verse, New Found Land, poetry, contests, winner, Add a tag
Reading Experiences:
For the month, I planned on reading three verse novels: THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN (which I decided wasn't a verse novel but was a lovely book nonetheless), SONG OF THE SPARROW (which made it back to the library, to be read another year), and NEW FOUND LAND (which I'm close to finishing).
NEW FOUND LAND: LEWIS AND CLARK'S VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY is told in the multiple voices of the explorers' expedition and even includes Lewis's dog, Seaman. As I've read, I've marked figurative language I've especially enjoyed. Here's a taste:
The arrows passed through him as if
his body had been river mist.
Sandbars began to rise from the water like huge loaves of bread.
And the squirrel,
wet as a fresh turd, is humping it up the slope5 Comments on A Month in Verse: In Conclusion, last added: 4/28/2012Display Comments Add a Comment
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/25/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: verse novel, standardized tests, guest post, Hate that Cat, novel-in-verse, Love that Dog, Inside Out and Back Again, Pragmatic Mom, A Month in Verse, reading poetry for pleasure, Add a tag
By: Caroline Starr Rose,
on 4/23/2012
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: verse novel, guest post, novel-in-verse, A Month in Verse, Add a tag
a guest post by Rebecca J. Gomez
It only took one book for me to fall for the verse novel. OUT OF THE DUST, by Karen Hesse, opened my eyes to what a powerful story-telling tool the poetic form can be.
The verse format is a literary close-up; it strips away the fluff that so often clogs up traditional prose in order to get down deep to the guts of the story. It goes beyond the telling—or even showing—of a story, and invites the reader to draw closer until he or she can (almost) experience the story right along with the main character.
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Margarita Engle, verse novel, novel-in-verse, historical verse novel, The Wild Book, A Month in Verse, Add a tag
My new novel in verse, THE WILD BOOK, was inspired by stories my grandmother told me about her childhood. She grew up on a farm in Cuba during the turmoil that followed U.S. occupation of the island after the Spanish-American War. She also suffered the inner turmoil of dyslexia. Choosing verse rather than prose gave me a chance to distill that complex historical and personal situation down to its emotional essence. How did my grandmother feel? What were her choices?
Poetry forces me to be brief. All the facts and figures won’t fit on an un-crowded page of free verse, so I have to choose only details that mean the most to me. Historical research is painstaking and meticulous, but poetry is expansive and imaginative. My hope is that the two moods will blend, offering a glimpse into the life of a young person who found hope in times that must have seemed hopeless.
Margarita Engle is the Cuban American winner of the first Newbery Honor ever awarded to a Latino.0 Comments on Margarita Engle on Writing Verse as of 1/1/1900Add a Comment
Blog: Caroline by line (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: novel-in-verse, Katherine Applegate, HOME OF THE BRAVE, verse novel, reading update, THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, A Month in Verse, Add a tagHow are you doing, readers?
I've read one of my three titles, THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN. It was a lovely, quick read told in the voice of a gorilla. Yes, you heard that correctly. Author Katherine Applegate was inspired to write IVAN after learning about a gorilla who for three decades lived in a tiny cage at a mall. Now the real Ivan lives at the Atlanta Zoo (Katherine has created a website for those interested in finding out more about this remarkable fellow).
I'd heard great things about this book before beginning. It was included on the Winter 2012 Kids' Indie Next List as well as Amazon's Best Books of the Month for Kids (January 2012). IVAN is making waves as a contender for the 2013 Newbery Medal.
But is it a verse novel?
12 Comments on A Month in Verse: Novel Read Along, last added: 4/20/2012Display Comments Add a Comment
Caroline, thank you for your addition! I think you may be talking to all of us poetry lovers as this crazy-beautiful month comes to a close. :)
Am loving this poem and the way it unfolded poet to poet! Just caught on to it today.
Oh, nice addition, to offer a pause in this swirling, whirling adventure.
This poem is coming to such a generous and loving end...lucky visitor in silver slippers!
It's one of those quietly beautiful things you can't enough of. Beautiful, Caroline.
Caroline - such a beautiful ending to that line!!
I echo other commenters...beautiful!
That was so beautiful that it actually gave me chills!
Yes! You added the perfect line! I'm having so much fun watching this poem grow!
Perfection! Short and sweet, and I love it!